Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against chicken gizzard 5'-nucleotidase inhibit the spreading process of chicken embryonic fibroblasts on laminin substratum.

Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies raised against chicken gizzard 5'-nucleotidase were tested in adhesion assays of embryonic chicken fibroblasts (CEF) for their ability to interfere with the adhesion process of these cells on either laminin or fibronectin substrata. The initial attachment process of CEF on fibronectin and laminin substrata was not influenced by preincubating these cells with antibodies against chicken gizzard 5'-nucleotidase. However, the subsequent spreading process of these cells was found to be inhibited for at least 2 h on a laminin substratum. This effect was obtained with a polyclonal antibody as well as with one from 12 monoclonal antibodies raised against the native enzyme purified from chicken gizzard. In vitro assays demonstrated a competition of laminin and this monoclonal antibody for the binding site on purified 5'-nucleotidase. Spreading-arrested and rounded CEF do not develop prominent intracellular stress-fibers like control cells, instead they seem to concentrate their available actin in areas of presumptive initial contact with the laminin substratum.